The joint legislative budget committee on Tuesday recommended cutting an additional $36.6 million from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program in the coming year, but local school districts say they were expecting the move — and preparing for deeper cuts.
The Mississippi Adequate Education Program is already down 5 percent to $2,117.6 million for Fiscal Year 2010 after Gov. Haley Barbour”s latest budget cuts. Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, says that figure could be cut by another 3 percent before the end of fiscal year 2010, in addition to the nearly 1-percent cut recommended for fiscal year 2011.
With that in mind, local districts have been preparing for the worst.
“This was all anticipated, so we”re cutting back already,” said Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey. “A lot of things we did going back a year and a half.”
“We”ve already tried to take as much efficiency as we can from transportation, travel and reducing staff through attrition,” said Dr. Del Phillips, superintendent of Columbus Municipal School District. “This year”s cuts will probably be a reduction in staff.”
Phillips says teachers will be last to go if jobs must be cut, so janitors, librarians, counselors, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers and clerical workers may be on the block. And administrators won”t escape unscathed, either.
“I”ve already talked to administrators about the budget situation. They”re prepared for us to do something with their contracts like (reduce) the number of days worked or salary,” said Phillips.
Teachers will have to sacrifice, as well. In Starkville, Couey says teacher assistants may have to go. Also, new teachers won”t be assigned a mentor after the state pulled the plug on the Beginning Teacher Support Program.
But none of this is news to the districts. Columbus Municipal School District is already down about $900,000 from FY 2009 after Barbour”s second round of cuts in September. Starkville is short more than $860,000 from 2009.
John Jordan, interim superintendent of Mississippi schools, says 70-80 percent of most district budgets are comprised of salaries and benefits. And the situation may worsen for 2012 unless the economy takes a drastic turn for the better.
“It”s inevitable there”s going to be some job loss in the community. Good superintendents make sure classroom instruction is the last thing cut. It”s important that be the priority,” said Jordan.
In addition to the nearly 1-percent cut, a memorandum from the joint budget committee also recommended that districts be provided “as much budget flexibility as possible.”
Jordan says that likely means Mississippi Department of Education would be given the freedom to “manage resources regardless of the line-item appropriation by the Legislature.”
“If I want to cut back on personnel and put money in contract services and privatize work at the department, I”m not allowed to do that. Flexibility would allow me to move money in the budget line-item,” he explained.
On a district level, he says superintendents would be given greater freedom to allocate state funds. Districts receive five add-on funds (transportation, special education, vocational education, alternative education and gifted education) which are allocated via line item. Flexibility could mean districts receive the add-on funds as one lump sum and superintendents will be allowed to divide the money as they see fit.
Noticeably absent from the joint committee”s recommendations was anything resembling Gov. Haley Barbour”s recommendations to merge five state universities or consolidating school districts.
Barbour recommended Mississippi University for Women merge with Mississippi State University. A statement from MUW President Dr. Claudia Limbert Tuesday read: “We are pleased about this news. This is a time in the state”s history where more education is needed, not less.”
However, just because the governor”s recommendations weren”t included in the joint committee”s recommendations doesn”t mean they”re off the table. Similarly, the joint committee”s forgiving 1-percent cut to MAEP is merely a recommendation and is not guaranteed.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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